Uniwinnicrypt ransomware charges over $550k for file recovery

April 9, 2021

The SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team have been tracking a ransomware family named Uniwinnicrypt.  This malware is aimed at large corporations and the operators charge over $550k USD in crypto (Monero and Bitcoin) for file recovery.  A custom chat site hosted on the tOr network is provided by the operators for negotiations with their victims.  However, conversations between the victims and operators are publicly accessible.

 

Infection cycle:

 

Upon infection, code is injected into grpconv.exe, iexpress.exe or write.exe.  This code performs the encryption of files on the system:

 

The extension “.uniwinnicrypt” is appended to all encrypted files.

 

HOW_FIX_FILES.htm is dropped into all directories where files were encrypted.  It contains the following message:

 

The tOr link leads to the following page:

 

After entering the requested information, the following existing conversation between a victim (not us) and the operator can be seen:

 

SonicWall Capture Labs provides protection against this threat via the following signature:

  • GAV: Uniwinnicrypt.RSM (Trojan)

This threat is also detected by SonicWALL Capture ATP w/RTDMI and the Capture Client endpoint solutions.